DO YOU HAVE THESE DANGEROUS LEADERSHIP DEFICIENCIES?

Leading with Love, Part 4

All the things love isn't make up the bulk of Paul's treatise on love in 1 Corinthians 13, but first he focuses on two things love is: patient and kind.

They aren't the flashiest leadership traits, but if you don't have them, your leadership is dangerously deficient. In leadership, character is everything.

In part four of his Leading with Love series, Kevin Fitzgerald unpacks these two essential traits. (https://www.biblicaleldership.com/effectiveness/leading-gods-flock-0/leading-love/character-everything/)

LOVE IS PATIENT

When we're patient with people, we're treating them the way God treats us. He loves us, forgives us, and walks with us in our struggles. Patience is a must-have trait for elders because:

CHURCH WORK IS SLOW WORK. Leaders tend to like action and efficiency, but church work is rarely fast-paced. It takes time for plans to unfold and people to grow. Rather than becoming frustrated with the slow pace, allow God to use it to deepen your patience. He cares far more about your character than your accomplishments.

PEOPLE DON'T ALWAYS LIKE US. When people criticize us, it's tempting to say, "If they don't like me, I don't like them. I'm out of here." But that's not God's will or his way. He sticks with us at our worst, "[f]or he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:35-36).

PEOPLE HAVE FAULTS. They may learn and grow slowly, complain quickly, resist change, or forget their responsibilities. But God urges us to "be patient with everyone" (1 Thess. 5:14).

LOVE IS KIND:

It's been said that kindness is "love in work clothes." Kindness is a willingness to do good, to help others, to relieve burdens.

Are you kind? Ask yourself:

1. Am I tactful and diplomatic—even to people who criticize me?

2. Am I on the lookout for suffering and struggling people who need a boost?

3. Do I reach out to people, not just via email but through handwritten notes and phone calls?

4. Do I welcome people from church into my home for fellowship?

5. Do embody kindness tangibly through my tone of voice, body language, and physical gestures, like a touch on the arm?

Am I eager to help with people's burdens?

EXAMINE YOUR PRIVATE LIFE:

Patience and kindness are the unsung attributes of the best leaders. A leader's private and interpersonal life matters far more than the giftedness he displays from the pulpit.

Sadly, though, it's not uncommon for church leaders have a gap between their public and private lives, especially when discouragement and insecurity leads to spiritual dryness. But you can prevent or close that gap by:

FEEDING YOUR SOUL not just with "sermonettes" on the radio but with focused personal study and communion with God.

DEALING WITH YOUR SOUL, not glossing over it. God knows everything about us and is not scandalized by our depravity. The mature Christian deals with his sin by confessing it and working on his private life.

Check out part four of Leading with Love for more on the character of a loving leader. (https://www.biblicaleldership.com/effectiveness/leading-gods-flock-0/leading-love/character-everything/)